2016 South Carolina Democratic Primary – Open Thread

South Carolina voters will once again head to the polls for the second primary in two weeks, this time for the Democrats as Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton go head-to-head in the South. Polls leading up to the contest have shown Clinton to be the heavy favorite with Sanders fighting to close the gap.

There are 53 out of 59 delegates awarded based on today’s vote. The breakdown is 5 delegates per congressional district and proportionally awarded based on performance at that level.

We will be displaying live results here on the website as a test tonight. Please excuse any technical issues as we prepare for Super Tuesday. Please use the links above labeled as “Live Results” if there is an issue getting the results to display properly below. Report any issues using the contact form.

S.C. Democrats expect voter turnout in their presidential primary Saturday to be about half the record achieved by Republicans a week earlier.

Between 350,000 and 400,000 ballots will be cast, state Democratic Party chairman Jaime Harrison predicted Thursday.

Harrison expects the turnout will be “in between” the voting levels in previous Democratic primaries in 2004 and 2008, contests that featured multiple candidates.

If 400,000 votes are cast, that would mean about one out of every eight registered voters in the state goes to the polls.

In the Republican contest last weekend, 742,715 ballots were cast. That was one in every four registered voters.

…

Clinton is aiming for a decisive victory, which several polls suggest she will win. Sanders is hoping for a showing that can provide him momentum in upcoming March primaries and caucuses, analysts said.

Sanders has attracted larger crowds and a cult-like following among some younger supporters. However, as the S.C. primary has neared, he has spent more time campaigning in other states where he has a better chance of winning.

The 36,890 absentee ballots cast by midday Thursday in the Democratic contest total about 10 percent of the expected turnout.

We should start getting results after 7pm ET, though it wouldn’t surprise me if Clinton is declared the winner pretty quickly if the returns start to match up with the exit polls.

Nate Ashworth is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of Election Central. He's been blogging elections and politics for almost a decade. He started covering the 2008 Presidential Election which turned into a full-time political blog in 2012 and 2016.

If the FBI fails in their duty to arrest the repeat criminal Hillary Clinton — whose fraud and lies started with Whitewater, continued with her killings by proxy of the Americans in Benghazi, compounded by her leaking Classified Info via her private email server, used her position as Sec of State to give contracts to Foreign Companies (Russian and Ukrainian) which donated 100’s of Millions of Dollars to the fraudulent “Clinton Foundation”, used Huma and her other apparatchiks to work both for the Gov, private consulting firms, and herself AT THE TIME WHEN THEY WERE GOV EMPLOYEES…that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Thus, failure to arrest Hillary now is the Greatest Danger our Nation faces! It will mean that our Gov, and the federal agencies supposed to protect us, AREN’T WORTH A SPIT — but, instead work in hand with Big Shots, that are criminals by any definition, and kowtow to them because they want to keep their jobs and stay in power, regardless the irreparable damage such creatures cause the USA!

If the FBI fails in their duty to arrest Hillary ASAP — then, they will be responsible for the possibility of another Criminal Clinton winning the White House.

Such a repercussion will be catastrophic — Hillary as “President” will create civil unrest, states’ cessions attempts, a possible revolution, even another civil war to gain our free nation back from another tyrant.

The ball is in the FBI’s court, and if they fail in their duty to arrest Hillary now — the Calamity that may follow will be their fault.

Actually, she has. Her use of a private email server is a crime, having it set up to handle classified information by a company not certified to work with classified servers was another crime, and lying about it was a crime. If I had used my private email for work while in the military, I’d be in jail. She needs to be held accountable. This is the law, and it should apply to everyone.